Tim Buckley, Vanguard CEO, to Retire in 2024

Tim Buckley

Tim Buckley, chairman and CEO of The Vanguard Group, will step down at the end of 2024, the Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based firm with $8.7 trillion in global assets under management announced Thursday.

Buckley, a 33-year veteran of the firm, will retire from his roles after helming the firm for six years and overseeing its continued leading position among asset managers, in part due to the strength of its passive investment strategies. Vanguard currently sits as the second-largest asset manager in defined-contribution-only investments at $1.61 trillion, just behind BlackRock Inc.’s $1.16 trillion assets under management, according to PLANADVISER’s 2023 DCIO benchmarking survey. PLANADVISER, like PLANSPONSOR, is owned by ISS STOXX.

Vanguard’s board of directors has started a search of both internal and external candidates to replace Buckley, who was with the firm for a total of 33 years. The firm also announced that Chief Investment Officer Greg Davis has been appointed to the additional role of president of the firm, effective immediately.

Vanguard noted that, under Buckley, the firm expanded its client base by “tens of millions to more than 50 million investors globally” and grew total AUM by more than 80% to $9 trillion. Buckley also oversaw an expansion of advice offerings, digitization of the client experience and expansion of investment products outside of the U.S. to the Europe, Australia, Canada and Latin America.

Buckley joined Vanguard in 1991 as founder John Bogle’s research assistant. In 2001, he became a member of Vanguard’s senior leadership team as head of the information technology group. He later led the personal investor division and then served as CIO before being named CEO in 2018. He was named chairman in 2019.

“Thirty-three years ago, I was lucky to join a company that believed in giving investors a fair shake as they saved for retirement, for their kids’ college education or for their dream home,” Buckley said in a statement. “In my seventh year as CEO, we have scaled our mission to more than 50 million investors, and our team is just getting started. I have been passionate about developing the next generation of leaders, and I look forward to those leaders elevating Vanguard to new heights.”

Current CIO Davis will take on an expanded role as president, effective immediately. He will be responsible for Vanguard’s investment management, retirement business and services for financial adviser clients, overseeing the majority of Vanguard’s fund and exchanged-traded-fund distribution.

Davis is a 24-year veteran of the firm and was appointed CIO and global head of the investment management group in 2017. He oversees $8 trillion in global assets managed by Vanguard’s fixed income, equity index and quantitative equity groups.